Titanium Bike Welds with Mike Zanconato
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Tig welding a titanium bike with Mike Zanconato of Zanconato custom cycles.
Titanium is relatively easy to weld but following best practices and procedures is super important.
purging the back side of the weld with argon, cleaning the metal thoroughly, using a large flood cup, wearing clean gloves...all are details that can make a big difference.
using a clear furick bbw cup really helped with filming the arc for this video but it also provided the argon shielding required to keep the welds silver free from discoloration.
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I’m an experienced titanium welder (exhaust and such) but I learned a lot about prep from this video. Awesome!
I have never held a TIG torch in my life but I can't stop looking at TIG videos! Thanks for sharing.
Jody, thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to come up and visit. It was so much fun and I learned a ton. Thank you for all that you do for this community!
zanconato thanks for having me Mike
You go Zank!
I don’t see my max in the background! Get to work :)
That is one well set up work-space sir!
Well I was interested, until I found out your a roadie. Interest lost.
Two masters taking the time to share some of their expertise. Awesome, thanks guys! Fantastic work on those welds.
Hey Jodi, Thanks for all the years you have been putting into your KZhead Tutorials. I have been watching for many years. I have been welding for 20 years now and I still look for you to learn something I can apply to my jobs. I love the clear arc shots and the chilled out narration. Thanks man.
Noticed the "modified" regulator/hose wrench, you always provide ideas that help our effort. Plan on making one today! Thanks for the good information and wonderful - "Tips & Tricks!"
I have a new appreciation of the Serotta Legend titanium bike that I bought 20 years ago. The welds are flawless.
Holy crap. Those welds look clean
Great video as usual Jodi!! Fantastic quality bikes being built here!
I think fusion is the most important thing to consider when welding. It is one of the main reasons Carbondale frames don’t have high failure rates. They have these huge welds both for fusion and aesthetics. Excellent video thank you!
I was a tig welder at a titanium bike factory in north Cambridge Massachusetts in the late 90's early 2000's . You're doing beautiful work. Keep it up!
Serotta?
@@roadyeti3697 Serotta is in NY
Awesome looking welds and awesome arc shoots!
Best weld talk I ever heard, and best welds I have ever seen, Tanks pro,s.
Theses welds are pure art work and I could look at it all day.
I wouldn't call it art. I call it science. Follow the instructions and it should always work.
@@eduardosampoia5480 you could NOT be more wrong .. welding is an ARTFORM like anything else that requires skill .. the better you are at it the better the results .. " follow the instructions " .. yeee i read how to setup a welder .. now i can weld as well as anyone else .. no matter how long they been doing it .. you get my point or?
That is one very informative video (even more than your usual, high quality content) Jody; and Mike seems like a real nice down-to-earth guy and a great craftsman. Those welds you guys show are pure art!
I always enjoy wrapping my arms around a BBW. Maybe I'll look into that cup too.
Exceptional video as always, thanks Jody... hope, and trust, you and yours are doing great.
Watched you for years. Keep on keeping on.
I've sent this to my bike riding mates. Hopefully it helps educate them. Thanks.
I just started working with titanium tubing, (aircraft structural) and it is a DREAM to work with, once I got past the quirks of the material, it really is an awesome product to weld. and the BBW cups (in Pyrex) made a huge difference. It allows light to spread out more, and I can see what"s coming around the curve of the tube. I have really started using titanium anywhere I can. It makes the project run over budget, but in my opinion, the weight saving and strength are worth every penny. And you don't have to be nearly as worried about stress fatigue, which brings peace of mind, especially knowing someone's life is on the line at 3000 meters altitude. Thx for a great video.
Jack the Aviator Question for you, where do find your material to use? I am having a bear of a time finding Ti locally.
When I was young there was a race car driver named Juan Fangio and he was simply the best! The reason I mention that guy is that he said "you win the race by going as slow as possible", meaning fast enough to win but slow enough to keep the car intact.Welding is quite similar,you want to weld as cold as possible to get away from enlarging the grain structure but hot enough to get the penetration required
He is very thorough! Lots of respect for all those alum. welded bikes too. Thx.
WOW!!! That was really informative, I really appreciate how you break things down.
amazing ending, titanium looks absolutely stunning , congratulations
I’m late but that MIT professor is Thomas W Eagar on youtube. He does welding metallurgy lectures that are available to anyone. Just search up Thomas Eagar. The specific situation he talks about is GE did some laser welding on $25,000 parts. If it fails, they throw away $25,000, if they succeed, they get $50,000. They were cleaning their parts with industrial grade acetone and were getting porosity. Thomas Eagar suggested switching to reagent grade acetone however they just blew him off because it was such an odd suggestion. Well after a year of failed parts and hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses, they tried it and it worked.
That sure is a great fixture for the tubing prep. Thanks for sharing.
Neat video. I was a teenager in the late eighties and raced mountain bikes, so I have a thing for titanium bikes. I also took metal fabrication (welding - SMAW) in high school. Cool to see the build and get the high points of the process. Thanks!
Another great video from weldingtipsandtricks!
Wow that's some intensely beautiful work good job dude you're an artist
Really interesting video to watch and thanks for posting. Mikes doing really well but has a way to go before his welds are as neat as Seven Cycles or IF bikes. Darren Baum was about the same when he started but now his welding is up there with the best as well. Can't begin to imagine how much skill and practice is required
Hats off. Brilliant work fellas
Mike makes some sweet frames. Great attention to detail man!
man this is some useful information precisely delivered - thanks for that!
Thanks for going above and beyond!
Awesome video. I guess for the complete set we now need to see how Mike joins the really high zoot stainless like Columbus XCr or Reynolds 953.
Beautiful titanium welds!
I live 20 min from mike he does some great work. Nothing nicer then s custom bike
Thanks for sharing all your secrets... I shall set up a workshop tomorrow using Diy tooling :P Just kidding, great video on an excellent topic. Its great to see the passion and the high level of OCD/Attention to detail !
Best welding I've ever seen.
Thank you both for your time and knowledge, the reality is I will likely never weld Ti, but if I do, at least I have a little foreknowledge to do so with.
speedbuggy16v I thought the same thing until I needed to weld some Ti cookware to better strengthen it for my cooking gear in my bug out bag. Turns out it was smart studying about Ti welding and very smart in getting a better welder than I needed when I bought mine. I went with a Dynasty and I am glad I did!
Excellent video as always Jody
Wow. Thank both you guys. Impressive
Your work is excellent, both of you! Those fitups and beads were immaculate. I'm just beginning to dip my toe into the world of titanium and there is plenty to know. Thank you for sharing your expertise and experience!
Interesting tip on reagent grade acetone. Great video.
fascinating. thk you for sharing. I dream of a ti bike, one day, hopefully.
Great workmanship!!!
Greetings from Poland :) Weldingtipsandtriks rules!
Also I find it incredible how thin that frame is, yet it can still hold over 200 pounds of weight with ease!
Jody Sir your recent videos are about the best, most informative, welding videos I've ever seen. At 54 my eyes are starting to give up on me so seeing my puddles are tough on these exotic metals. But I'm a poor working class man so there's no giving up. So if you'll keep helping I'll keep hanging in there. BTW I own 4 or 5 of your TIG fingers. I won't buy the knock off brands as a matter of principal. It's you product. I've had my product stolen, rebranded and sold as someone else's product I know how much that sucks Sir.
I'm 64 with rotten eyes but I can still weld thanks to electronic helmets and cheater lens. Cheaters are stereo magnifying lenses. I use a +3 diopter cheater and am about to have to go to +4. Another tip is to illuminate the work to be almost as bright as the arc. I use this light. www.neon-john.com/Misc/Mega_light_home.htm And a smaller but just as bright LED version. The Mega-Light uses a 1000 watt metal-halide bulb. I'm trying going back to a conventional non-electronic hood. It's working pretty well. I can see the work before the arc is struck. For welding in tight spaces, I've made a 175 watt metal-halide light out of a conventional drop light. There is a version of the 175 watt bulb that is the same size as a 100 watt incandescent lamp. I polished the reflector to get more heat and light out the front and less heat out the back. There have recently become available LED lights of equivalent brightness that will fit in the socket. I have one on order. Extremely bright illumination is vital for us geezers to continue welding. John
Plus if you don't have good lighting all the way around your part having an auto darkening helmet is useless.
Nice work, a joy to watch
super cool!! I can tig some but this is pure art!!
very nice work, great lesson ,, thanks for the video,
Hello from Brazil, short your channel! You're an excellent welder.
Awesome video and great talk. Thanks guys
Beautiful stuff. What is the TIG welder setup? I've worked as a weldor in the past but many years ago. I see leaps in welding technology and would like to get back into it for my own good. Always loved the work, the employers, at times, not so much. I have deep respect for guys like Mike. Thanks for the vid
After watching just the first 4 minutes of this it became vividly clear that you need to know a whole lot . . .and lay out a lot of money to get started in this game. The "Fake it till you make it" philosophy wont cut it here, that's for sure...
BBW - Big Beautiful Weld
That's my type of BBW XD
Starrett makes very good tools, especially their measuring tools.
Awesome video Jody you the man 👊🏻
Great stuff man! Im a stainless steel welder venturing into exotic metals. I always thought if possible to weld in one pass to keep from burning all the properties out of the metal also to not have any weaknesses in the heat effected zone?
Great videos as always, hey I was wondering if you have a video on different helmets and other safety equipment
ibusch90 I’d like to see that too!
Wow, awesome work.
Man ... beautiful welds ...
Great video. Thanks for sharing. Does anyone have the link to the acetone contamination video he was talking about?
Now I understand completely why a titanium bike frame is such a premium..
I have Mike's t-shirt too! Must of done the same race together!
MAN, I BEEN USING A STICK WELDER FOR 10 YEARS (HOBBY) , TIME TO GET INTO TIGS WELDING
I like the Richard Sachs sticker on his table.
great informative video! thanks guys!
Informative discussion, thanks!
His fitup is beautiful
Do any of the #12 furick cups support 1.6mm tungstens? I need the coverage but 2.4mm tungsten is too big for the work I weld on average.
I'm a medical student, but I would love to know how to weld like this! Great work!!
Tom Suggest you get a good TIG like a Miller or Lincoln inverter, a top end helmet and have at it! No better way to learn than your screw ups. Once you are a doc you will have a lot less time on your hands. It’s fun as hell to be able to weld almost everything!
Get started soon and enjoy the hobby as it is a very useful skill!
Sweet welding !
I enjoy watching thanks .
Awesome work! Where did you get that purge setup? Any interest in 1.00 x .21 wall 3Al/2.5V I have a bunch of untouched 16' I'm looking to free up some space?
great video boss. very informative
Excellent video!!!
superb, awesome video
Hi great insight in to building Titanium bikes, I wonder if you can answer my question about what is the best Brazing rod to braze T45 to Titanium by gas Oxy Acetylene or Oxy Propane Torch thanks
Great coverage! Yeah, MSDS on acetone says it contains trace oil. That used to give me fits. I find drugstore alcohol works fine for cleaning. Sometimes I will use something stronger like acetone, but clean any residue from that with the alcohol. Reagent grade might be the solution, if I can find it. Just remember no brake cleaner, it will fry your brain.
If you are using brake cleaner, use non-chlorinated, but just don't if you have some solid 90% isopropyl alcohol.
Trichloroethylene ;-)
Congratulations for your videos!!! ...I follow you from Nicaragua
arethe bronze chill inserts homemade or store bought ?? how about pure ethyl alcohol vrs pure acetone for final clean ?? SUPER VIDEO THANK YOU BOTH !!!
I made the heatsinks for the head tube and seat tube, but the bottom bracket heatsink is a Paragon product. You can use different alcohols for prep. Isopropyl is probably most common.
Nice job
clean work
Was really into BMX racing back in the day, actually what got me into welding. Aws asme ix certified on stick decent at tig but still practicing. Would love the opportunity to try this out
Since youre certified on stick....if my stick keeps sticking what do I need to do? Change angle? Approach slowly and glide? Increase amps? It's a old inverter harbor freight tig stick, from maybe like 2003 or so. I've seen it make nice stick weld with an experienced welder but he was just a passer by. What is your trick?
@@thornyturtleranch6152 what's rod type, diameter of rod, amperage now, material thickness your welding on just a few quick questions to point you in right direction
@@chrisjones6165 I'll get back to you on the rod. I think it was the 6000s number but I know there are a few. Maybe the 7000s I'll have that later today. It was quarter or thicker, welding a crack in a tow hitch plate. My weld held but it cracked again elsewhere. Took forever to get each weld going.
@@chrisjones6165 6011 is what I was trying. It kept sticking before I could get a good burn or arc. I upped the amps which maybe helped but I burned through my 1/4 inch plate and had to patch it but I got plenty of experience moving it around real fast to let molten metal cool before dripping while I added it elsewhere patch a hole. When I got it burning I knew what to do, just so hard to keep it from sticking.
@@thornyturtleranch6152 sounds like a good thing turning it up. Try a stepping motion. Move forward slowly let melt and step back to fill and repeat
Thanks guys
when you tig welding how come you have that white ploom in side electric arc because while I try I didn't sea such a thing
your a great welder
Can you make a film on heavier industrial fabrication although this may be for mig or arc welding.Titanium is very hard ,if you have a real thick piece whats the best way to cut it? Good welding.
Do you build mountain bike frames? and what would be the cost? 17 inch
Any link to the GE aircraft prep?? Not having luck
Have you ever experienced oxygen contamination with the pyrex gas lenses? If so, what did you find helped to eliminate it?
I have 2 broken Titanium frames. how difficult is it make a repair that will last? thanks for any insite!
Nice work! I do the same but for the aerospace industry. Nic, cobalt, ss alloys. I'm curious to know more about your back purging. What cfh are you purging at?.
Same, argon purge slowly fills the volume of the container, so once the atmospheric gasses have been purged you only need to maintain the argon volume, maybe 3CFH or so, going too high will cause positive internal pressure that will blow out your weld. Also remember to leave a vent hole(s) for the atmosphere to escape
Truth be told, carbide tooth hole saws are the best. More expensive, but really clean cuts……and long lasting.
pure art
Hello from Russia!!! Very interesting video!
What was omitted is where to buy the acetone and what does he use to apply the special reagent grade acetone. How much more does it cost vs home depot acetone.
Mmmm, stupid KZhead unsubscribed me from a bunch of channels, didn’t know about this one. Very cool Jody!